When the Prime Minister announced Australia’s national AI strategy last week, I expected the typical splits and responses to the policy.
Some cautious applause, scepticism, a lot of noise in-between.
And at face value, what surprised me was just how clear the majority of Australians appeared to be about what happens next.
A national survey of 1,001 Australians we commissioned the day after the announcement found 64% support the overall strategy.
And whilst this sounded like a mandate, when I dug a little deeper into the numbers, it actually isn’t; most of that 64% is only “somewhat” support: certainly not strong conviction, and more of a maybe.
Though, dig one layer deeper again, and the ‘maybe’ instead sharpens into something I recognise from building an AI company in this country. Asking Australians specifically whether we should build our own AI capability or rely on tools built overseas, and it’s not close. 37% want us building it ourselves, even if that means moving slower. Another 43% want a mix.
Setting aside the undecided and you get 92% of Australians who want local capability to be part of the answer. Only 7% are happy to rent it from another country.
One look at Kimi K3 and I get the fear – the breakneck pace of the US and China in the space is almost overwhelming and we have effectively no control over it.
Australians aren’t undecided about AI. But they want it to be built here: we agree that AI is our collective future and we’d prefer to own that future.
What’s undecided is whether government follows through.
This isn’t a guess, it’s a forecast from the people using the tool
44% of Aussies brace for change
From the survey, 44% of working Australians have the clear view that their job will be significantly changed or replaced by AI within five years. At close to half the workforce, this is by no means an edge case.
And what’s striking is who’s saying it: 91% of the 44% are already using AI themselves, including 78% in their own job.
These aren’t people afraid of AI in terms of its power. These are people who’ve opened the AI box, seen what’s inside, and drawn a conclusion.
When the people who understand this technology best are the ones predicting the disruption, that’s not a reason for government to pay lip service to the challenge. Instead, it’s a reason to make sure the industry doing the disrupting is one we own: and these are not my words or sentiment.
Trust isn’t blind, it’s conditional
From the study, only 43% of Australians trust the government to get the AI rules right. Certainly, on its own, that’s a hard number to build a cohesive, national AI strategy on.
But split it by exposure and the picture shifts. Among those who expect their own job to be significantly affected, trust rises to 65%.
And it’s not blind trust: it’s the trust of people who understand the stakes well enough to know they can’t afford to sit this one out, and who’d rather back government to get the settings right than bet against it.
Nobody’s asking for the brakes off
If you’re picturing a country demanding government get out of the way, that’s not what the data shows.
Even the most AI-forward group – workers using it purely for their job – tops out at 21% wanting speed over caution.
Overall, it’s 12%.
Nobody’s asking for a free-for-all. Instead, they’re asking for a considered, steady approach, and one where the government actually takes a stance, and where domestic investment sits at the centre of it, backing local AI businesses rather than leaving the door open to import the industry instead.
Credit: Workclone AI Replacement/ Policy Chart by Primara
What this means for Australian politics
National Cabinet meets next month, with legislation due early next year. That’s a narrow window to get the framing right, and this data gives government a clearer brief than submissions potentially will. (I will be submitting this survey.)
The real choice here was never between moving fast and moving safe. The data shows it’s a choice about who builds Australia’s AI industry, and 92% of Australians are clear which way they lean.
We have a genuinely strong startup culture in this country: Canva, Airwallex and Firmus immediately come to mind.
What’s missing is government treating our startup culture as the asset it is, not an afterthought to a national strategy.
This is a real (though very likely last) chance to become a tech-first economy, and Australian AI businesses are how we get there, if the settings back us instead of the alternative.
We’ve had chances like this before. The dot-com era was one. We didn’t capitalise on it the way Singapore and Sweden did, and that gap has stuck with us.
Indeed, we barely hear about the government’s Future Made in Australia policy, nor green steel and hydrogen. This is an opportunity we can and should take as we stare down the AI abyss.
Because this AI moment is different. We have genuine startup momentum in the AI space and real companies building real capability. What we don’t have is government treating it as a priority rather than a response flapping in the wind, and that’s what really needs to change this time.
Cartoonists David Rowe and Cathy Wilcox had almost identical cartoons last week of our Prime Minister asking an AI robot for its social license to which the robot responded – correctly – I’m sorry Anthony, I can’t help with that: let me help you spin this. We collectively know it’s true and that is what frightens us.
Real, owned and ‘socially licensed’ gains from this technology for Australia won’t come from good intentions alone or asking Anthropic to sponsor a helicopter.
Instead, it will come from an Australia-wide focus, with government leading it rather than reacting to it.
The government’s ‘AI strategy’ is the strongest possible call-to-action to date, but follow-through is what decides whether this moment counts. At WorkClone, we’re one of the businesses that follow-through will either back or sideline.
I’d rather government back us and 92% Australians agree.
- Natalie Ashes is the CEO of WorkClone
About the Data
The data used in this release is from a survey commissioned by Primara Research for WorkClone of 1,0001 Australians in July 2026.
